Unlocking devices such as these can be used for a plurality of applications. Especially wherever it is important to execute an initiation process for a technical component in a dedicated and reliable manner, unlocking devices with actuating magnets are preferred. This actuating magnet even in rough, everyday operation, for example, when exposed to vibrations or impacts, is reliable in use, as experience shows. With the unlocking device according to the invention, especially in the motor vehicle domain, safety-relevant parts can be unlocked and caused to operate, whether in the form of a roll bar which is to be deployed or in the form of a headrest which moves forward in a crash, in order to reduce the free impact path between the back of the head of the seat occupant and the head impact surface on the headrest, etc.
In these unlocking devices, the actuating magnet with the actuating element and movable control unit can be housed in a very small installation space. These devices can then be accommodated in a space-saving manner within motor vehicles. As a result of the space-saving structure, these unlocking devices can also be used directly at the site of the initiation process, where previously, in the prior art, optionally Bowden cables which are complex to manage have accomplished the initiation process over greater path distances.
On the other hand, for safety-relevant applications of these unlocking devices, there is, however, the danger of loss of operating reliability. After an initiation process in which the pertinent safety means has been activated by triggering the control part, in many cases it is necessary, in order to ensure operating reliability, to replace the safety means itself or its parts by new parts before reactuation. In other words, there is the risk that an already activated safety means will be inadvertently returned to the initial position, the control part will be returned to the locked state by the unlocking device, and the safety means which is no longer reliable after completed activation is “armed” again.